I’m nearly out of breath with the panic of my near miss. I press the button on my radio. “What the hell, Toni, is this some kind of weird initiation?”

Her voice comes out as a growl. “Just get the damn thing and come back inside.”

I approach it carefully, nudging it with my toe first. It doesn’t move. Flipping it over onto its back, I bend down to retrieve it. It buzzes once, but I shake it really hard, and it stops. “Not this time, Polly, you little asshole.”

I get into the van as quickly as I can, holding the drone out at arm’s length.

Toni’s glowering in the driver’s seat, staring out the windshield. I wait for her explanation. Apparently, she doesn’t feel the need to give me one, though. Instead she turns the key and starts reversing out of our parallel parking space.

“What the hell, Toni?”

“What the hell, what?” She shifts into drive.

“I thought we were going to put this up on the pole.”

“Yeah, so did I, but it didn’t work out, did it?” She glares at me for a second before going back to her gearshift.

I put my hand on hers to stop her. There’s a vulnerability to her that I’ve never noticed. “What’s going on?”

She takes a deep breath in and then lets it all out. “I totally suck at flying that thing.”

I look at it in my hand and frown. “You didn’t totally suck. You got liftoff.”

“Liftoff is a long way from implantation.”

“Maybe we should practice somewhere else and come back.”

She pulls out onto the street. “Ozzie’s going to want us back for a briefing soon.”

“It probably won’t take longer than thirty minutes.” I check my watch. “We have time.”

She chews her lip as she drives to the next block. “Where?”

I point to an abandoned-looking lot, one that’s obviously been used as a garbage dump by the local population if all the empty bottles and plastic bags spread around is any indicator. “There.”

She pulls up onto the sidewalk, the entire van bouncing side to side when she gets back out on the street.

“Great parking job.”

“Shut up.” She puts the van in park and turns off the engine. She looks at me, strangely expressionless. “You sure you want to do this? I almost cut your leg off earlier.”

I smile. “Not even close. I have reflexes like a ninja.”

She snorts.

“Here,” I say, handing her the drone. “You go put Polly down, and I’m going to try to fly her.”

She stares at the drone sitting in her hand. “You think you can fly it?”

“I’ve had radio-controlled toys before. Can’t be too hard, right?”

“Tell that to your leg.” She points to my jumpsuit. There’s a spot of red on it where the drone hit my leg.

“Oh my god. You cut me!”

She smiles, but there’s a hint of regret to it. “I told you I suck at it.”

I open the door. “Come on. Bring the controller. I’m going to make this happen.”

She follows me outside, and we stand together at the edge of the lot.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

You completely suck, you know that?” Toni’s glaring at me with her arms crossed over her chest.

I maneuver the drone so it’s level with her eyes, a couple feet away. “Say it again and see what happens.” I giggle with maniacal glee.

“How is it you can control that thing after ten minutes of trying, and I can’t get it to do anything but cut people after hours of practice?”

“I’m a ninja pilot. Live with it.” I lower the drone to a smooth stop at her feet. “Can we go now? I’m starving.” It’s nearly three o’clock, and I haven’t eaten anything since the bagel with cream cheese provided by our employer this morning.

“Yes, we can go after you’ve placed the drone.”

My bravado simmers to a dull roar. “Place it? You really think I can do that?”

“Well, either you’re going to do it, or you’re going to crash and burn one of our best pieces of surveillance equipment.” She snorts.

“No pressure.”

“Listen, if you want Thibault to come out and do our jobs for us, fine. I’ll call him.” She lifts up her phone.

“No! Don’t call him. We can do this.” I climb into the van next to her. “Girl power, right?”

“Sure,” she says, turning the engine on and driving out onto the street. “Whatever you say.”

There’s a definite chill to her tone. I chew my lip as we make our way back to the target, wondering if I should say something. My misgivings about what her reaction might be last all of three seconds.

“So what’s the deal, Toni? Did I do something to piss you off, or is it just that you don’t like me on principle?”

She doesn’t answer right away. She waits so long to reply, I’m convinced she’s just going to ignore my question. That’s not awkward at all. Just as I’m about to apologize, she responds.

“I don’t dislike you at all. I’m just not . . . a warm and fuzzy person.”

“Oh.”

“I don’t get along with women very well.”

I consider that for a few seconds. “Do you have any sisters?”

“No. Three brothers. Thibault is one of them.”

“Female cousins?”

“Nope. Thirteen male cousins.”

“Wow. That’s a lot of testosterone.”

She shrugs. “I’m used to it. I never played with dolls; I played with soldiers. I prefer boots to sandals.”

I look at her and smile. She’s petite, with tiny little features that would look right at home on a china doll.

“What?” She glances at me before looking back at the road. “What are you looking at?”

“I’m looking at a tomboy who looks like a girly girl.”

She snorts. “Yeah, right. Girly girl. That’ll be the day.”

“You wear heels. Those boots I saw you in the first day I met you had heels.”

“Good for poking holes in bad guys.”

I cringe inwardly. “Oh. Gross.”

“And they make my legs look longer. I hate being short.”

At five-seven I can’t really commiserate on that one.

“In our business you have to be tough to get respect.”

I frown. This isn’t sounding so good for me right now.

She looks over and winks. “Don’t worry, Bo Peep. You don’t need to start wearing boots anytime soon.”

My chin goes up. “I have boots.” I don’t mention the part about the sparkles.

She says nothing, and we drive on. My heart starts beating faster when we arrive at our destination. The target house. All those tricky moves I was making with the drone take on new meaning here.

“You ready?” she asks. She sits very still in her seat, waiting for me to answer.

“As ready as I’m going to be.”

She opens her mouth to speak, but then shakes her head and starts to open her door.

“What?” I put my hand on her arm to stop her. “You were going to say something.”

She sighs, not looking at me as she speaks. “I was just going to say that you’ll be fine. And that I’m glad you’re here with me. On the team.”

I punch her in the arm, knowing how much it took for her to say that and also that anything more affectionate, like a hug, would freak her out.

“Me too,” I say, really meaning it. “Come on. Let’s go put this mother on that pole.”

She slides to the ground, but I see her smile in the side mirror. My heart soars with the idea that I could have just earned a friend with my mad drone-flying skills.

I move to the back seat and take up a position in front of the computer, with the joysticks on my lap.

“Okay,” she says, talking to me through the walkie-talkie. “Easy does it. Can you see through the drone’s camera?”

“Yep.” I put the radio down so I can use both hands. I’m staring at the computer screen in front of me. The drone has a camera on the front that takes in all the scenery around it, almost in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree radius. It’s impressive.

“We have liftoff,” she says as I bring the drone above the van.